Sending "Instant" Messages

If you use Netscape for browsing, you can take advantage of a service called AOL Instant Messenger (even if you don't use AOL).

Instant Messenger lets you see, from among a list you set up yourself (a "Buddy List"), which of your friends are online at the same time you are (see Figure 16.2). You can exchange typed messages with those friends—but unlike email, those messages show up instantly. The moment you send a message to a friend who's online, he or she sees it, and vice versa. So you can carry on a live, interactive conversation (much like chat, only more private).